Cloth diapering!!!!! I’ve been doing research.. and I may actually do it! I can hardly believe myself.

There is a plethora of options nowadays so it’s a bit overwhelming. I was thinking maybe prefolds with covers for the newborn and then gradually transitioning to all in ones and pocket diapers. Who knows, maybe I’ll like the prefolds. All I do know is that I’m going to have to buy a variety to figure out what will work for us.

Anyways to the other cloth diapering mammas…

What types/brands do YOU suggest? Tips of the trade? Favorite accesories/tools? Did you use both disposables AND cloth? Also if you voted in the poll.. feel free to post your favorite brands and let me know what stages (newborn/infant/toddler) you used each type!

I used disposables until the explosive poop stopped (maybe the first 2 months). Then I mostly used pre-folds with covers. I use pockets at night so I can put in an extra liner (Bumgenius), but actually prefer pre-folds during the day. I also have some Alvas, which are cheap, but I don’t think work quite as well. We had quite a few leaks, but I think that has more to do with each baby’s shape than the diapers themselves.

We have been back in disposables for awhile because we keep getting a really bad diaper rash, even though nothing has changed (detergent, etc). I’ll probably try cloth again in a week or so, but last time I “tested” for a day with cloth, the diaper rash came back with a vengeance. ]

I do it very simply. Dry bin for dirty diapers, wash all of them every 2-3 days. If poop doesn’t just plop into the toilet, then I wipe it in with toilet paper, so I don’t rinse.

We have 6 Bumgenius, 5 Alva, and maybe 30 pre-folds with 10 covers. That’s been more than enough for us!

We use the all-in-ones and absolutely love them! From my research, it seemed like with cloth dipes there’s a tradeoff between cost and convenience. The all-in-ones are a lot more expensive to buy at first, but they are so much easier to use, and that was worthwhile to us. If they were annoying to use, then Darling Husband wouldn’t want to use them, and more importantly, DD’s daycare probably wouldn’t want to use them either. but the AIOs are so similar to disposable that the daycare didn’t care at all and happily uses them on her — which saves us a ton of money, since they change her diaper every HOUR there.

Pocket dipes can be great if you’re willling to spend the time to stuff the diapers every time you need to use one. And prefolds are pretty daunting to anyone who doesn’t know how to use them — which means you might be the only one changing diapers if you use those!

We still use disposables at night, just because we haven’t burned through the big box of size 1s we were gifted, but soon I plan to start using cloth at night as well and then we’ll just use disposables when we plan to be away from home longer than a day.

Also, we used disposables while Dirty Delete still wore newborn size. Once she hit ~10 pounds or so, the cloth dipes fit her fine.

Oh, and as for tools — GET THE DIAPER SPRAYER. It attaches to your toilet and lets you spray off poop so it doesn’t set in the diaper. Then you don’t need to soak before washing — just wash the dipes on warm cycle once and they’re fine.

@annifer: I don’t know. I’ve tried googling for a store.. and there doesn’t seem to be one.. but I’ll ask around. I’ve watched many youtube videos and a little miniseries on there explaining the differences between all the diapers (although I’m sure I still don’t compltely get it completely yet )

@Jess1483: what brand covers did you get? and do you trifold or do the traditional way with the snappy thingamabobber

@iarebridezilla: oh I will most definitely WANT the sprayer.. I know it’s not necessary.. but it’s definitely something I think will make it a lot more pleasant! do you have a favorite AIO brand? Any have a better cost/quality ratio than the others?

@Woodstock: We have the Bumgenius elemental all-in-one, and also a bunch of swaddlebees simplex AIOs. I like the bumgenius more for the most part, but the swaddlebees have the advantage of having a pocket that you can stuff with doublers for overnight wear, which the BG do not. If you look at a picture of the inside of each, you’ll see what I mean. So basically, BG during the day and Swaddlebees at night would be our ideal situation. The Swaddlebees also have really cute designs whereas the BG are just solid colors. They’re pretty much exactly the same though except for the inside flap thing.

Both brands that we have are also one-size, so she will be able to wear the same diapers through to potty training. Even now snapped down to their smallest size, they fit her fine without any leaks.

And even though the sprayer is optional, it really isn’t. Haha Dirty Delete immediately pooped into the first cloth diaper we put on her “just to practice”, and we had to frantically get the sprayer hooked up to the toilet because we really didn’t know how else to get the poop out of the diaper that didn’t involve putting our hands in direct contact with feces/toilet water. No thanks!!!

I started cloth diapering when LO was 5 months, and she’s a year old now. I use cotton prefolds with snappi fasteners. When at home, I don’t use a cover because we do EC. When we’re out and about, I sometimes use a Thirsties cover on top or use disposables. I use disposables at nighttime too. I don’t think prefolds are that hard, though it does take more time to put on a cover over it, and older babies and toddlers won’t lay still for that long. I’ve perfected the art of putting a prefold on my daughter while she’s standing up or sitting in my lap, and we’re also now transitioning to cloth training pants that slip on.

If your baby is exclusively breastfed, you don’t have to soak or spray poopy diapers before washing. For solid-food poop, I just wipe/scrape off the excess poop with toilet paper, then throw the diaper into the washer, and it comes out fine. I do have to make sure to clean out my washer once a week or so by running an empty load with two cups of vinegar.

I’m obsessed with cloth dipes! We started when baby girl was about 2 months. I feel like the constant explosive poops of the newborn stage in cloth would have overwhelmed me. We mostly use AIOs and pocket diapers. We have mostly bumgenius and a few swaddlebees. I love the bumgenius 4.0s (pocket) and freetimes (aio). I like the freetimes over elementals (another bumgenius aio) purely because the freetimes dry quicker.

We also use hybrids: gDiapers and flips. These consist of a waterproof cover and an insert. What makes these awesome is they have a disposable insert option. The disposable inserts can be flushed while out and about, and instead of putting on a whole new diaper you just put in a new insert.

We have a bumgenius diaper sprayer. It works great! My Darling Husband also made me an awesome contraption out of a trash can and clipboard we got at the dollar store that holds and contains the diaper while spaying to prevent poop from spraying places it should not be sprayed. I’ll take a pic. There’s something like it sold in amazon, but I didn’t want to spend 26 bucks, so hand made for $2 is was! I’ll take a pic and post.

A few wetbags are also necessary. We keep a large one hanging in her room by her changing table, which holds the soiled diapers and inserts until ready to wash. We also have a few small ones, one in the bathroom for when we have to spray poopy diapers, and one in the Diaper bag in case we don’t use the disposable inserts. When it’s washing time I just dump the diapers and inserts into the wash and throw the wetbags in there as well. i do a separate wash for all diapers, with the exception of my gdiaper and flips covers. They go in the regular wash With her clothes and stuff. Inserts go in the dryer, and diapers, covers, and wetbags are hung to dry.